Rest Stop (film)

Rest Stop is the first direct-to-video horror film released by Warner Studios' "Raw Feed" imprint on October 17, 2006. It was written and directed by John Shiban.

Rest Stop
DVD cover
Directed byJohn Shiban
Produced by
Written byJohn Shiban
Starring
Music byBear McCreary
CinematographyMark Vargo
Edited byRichard Byard
Production
company
Distributed byWarner Home Video
Release date
  • October 17, 2006 (2006-10-17)
Running time
85 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

The film was followed by a sequel, Rest Stop: Don't Look Back (2008).

Plot

Jess picks up his girlfriend, Nicole, in his convertible to head out to California. On the way, Nicole complains she needs to urinate and she urges Jess to find a rest stop. After she exits the building she finds her boyfriend gone. A deranged truck driver with license plate KZL-303 throws her the red cell phone that was in the convertible, convincing her he has Jess. Nicole goes to look for help and notices an RV and bangs on the door and asks for help. She has a short eerie ride with the passengers until she is eventually thrown out for looking at the deformed individual hidden behind curtains at the back of the vehicle.

She then returns to the restroom where she hears a girl coughing up blood (Tracy) with cuts all over whimpering in the maintenance room. She cautions Nicole about the deranged killer who tortured her. The girl then bleeds profusely and as Nicole's attention is diverted she disappears, blood and all. Nicole finds Tracy's missing person poster and discovers the girl has been missing since 1971.

The man in the yellow truck continues to elude Nicole, until a cop arrives via motorcycle. The cop soon falls victim to the driver of the yellow truck by being run over. The officer's legs are run over repeatedly and injured severely in the process.

Nicole is able to drag the officer to the rest room, where the two seek refuge from the psychopath. Eventually, the driver of the truck returns and locks Nicole and the officer in the restroom. Nicole, thinking the man has left, attempts to open the lock. The driver appears out of seemingly nowhere, and bites Nicole's finger off. The officer realizes that Nicole is going into shock and commands Nicole to shoot the driver when he returns. She fires four shots out of the officer's revolver into the door but is unable to see if she has struck the driver. The driver then drops a camera into the restroom via the open window. The video is of Jess being tortured with a knife. The last shot of Jess shows him having his tongue cut out. The driver feeds a hose through the window and starts pouring gasoline into the room. Nicole tries to find an escape and is able to open a hatch in the ceiling. Realizing there is no way for her to get him out of the building the officer tells Nicole to use the two remaining bullets in his gun to kill him because he would rather die that way than be burned alive. She fails at first but eventually succeeds in the grisly task. The driver lights the gasoline and Nicole hurries to get out of the building. As Nicole is escaping she notices that the officer's body has mysteriously disappeared. Nicole is able to jump from the roof before the building explodes.

Once she is on the ground Nicole encounters the man in the yellow truck once again. He exits the truck, and she sneaks up behind him, striking him with a tire iron repeatedly. She turns him over and is shocked to discover it is actually Jess, with his mouth sewn shut, sporting other visible wounds. Nicole sneaks to the convertible where she fills a whiskey bottle that she had retrieved from a nearby Park Ranger's station and fills it with gasoline in order to concoct a makeshift Molotov cocktail to use against her attacker, should he return.

Morning approaches, and she walks down the highway with the driver of the truck approaching her at a rapid speed. After some fumbling, she is able to strike a match and light her Molotov cocktail. She hurls the bottle at the truck and almost instantly it is consumed by flames, followed by a large explosion. She investigates the truck but finds no body. After a few moments, she turns around and the man in the truck is behind her.

As an epilogue, the film ends with a different girl going to the same rest stop, after it is renovated due to the fire. She discovers Nicole in the maintenance room and runs out to the Park Ranger (who has returned to his post) to inform him of her discovery. He goes into the room, after unlocking it, and no one seems to be present. After he leaves, Nicole is shown behind some janitorial equipment calling out for help and vomiting blood.

The next scene is from the view of a video camera. It shows the father from the RV burying the body of Jess. The man, realizing he is being taped, goes into the RV and tells his deformed son "This is our little secret." The yellow truck is then shown driving down a deserted road.

Cast

Release

The film was rated R by the MPAA and distributed by Warner Home Video in both rated and unrated versions. It was a relative success on video, with close to $5 million in domestic video sales at retail according to The Numbers.[1]

Critical response

The film currently has a 0% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 6 reviews, with an average rating of 3.3/10.[2]

References
  1. DVD sales information at The Numbers
  2. "Rest Stop (2006)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved March 21, 2020.
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